BioLife4D announces $50M IPO to bring 3D bioprinted hearts to market

Sep 8, 2017 | By Tess

BioLife4D, a Chicago-based biotech company, has announced it will be filing an initial public offering (IPO) of $50 million with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Through the IPO, the company is aiming to bring “everyday investors” in to support the development and commercialization of its patient-specific 3D bioprinted cardiac tissue technology.

The biotech company has been working towards the development of a transplantable human heart made using 3D bioprinting processes. BioLife4D’s ultimate goal is to make bioprinted organ transplants as common as other surgeries, helping to improve treatments for heart disease especially.

As the company explains—and as we already know—3D bioprinting can offer a number of benefits for implants and transplants. Most notably, because the technology uses a patient’s own stem cells, having an artificial organ bioprinted can virtually eliminate the risks of organ rejection in a patient, reducing the overall risk significantly.

Moreover, being able to bioprint human organs in a lab would mean that patients would not have to be put on long donor waiting lists, continually wondering when their ailment will be addressed and treated. In terms of its 3D bioprinted heart, BioLife4D believes it has the potential to change how heart disease is treated.

“Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide—killing one in four men and one in three women while outpacing all forms of cancer combined,” explained Steven Morris, CEO of BioLife4D. “BioLife4D is committed to transforming the treatment of heart disease, capitalizing on recent medical breakthroughs and optimizing a process that will ultimately give patients the gift of time.”

By filing a $50 million IPO, the Chicago-based company is hoping to raise money to hire additional specialized team members, to buy more lab space, and to develop and license other bioprinting and biotech processes and technologies.

The IPO itself will be launched thanks to the JOBS Act, which was signed in 2012 and establishes that companies can “raise up to $50 million in equity from investors.” The equity investment announcement is likened to crowdfunding, in that it enables anyone (“everyday investors”) to invest in blossoming companies.

“BioLife4D is bringing revolutionary life-saving care to the masses, and we want the masses to have a chance to be a part of this revolution,” commented Morris. “Equity crowdfunding can help us accomplish this important objective, and we’re extremely excited for interested investors to join us.”

The date of the IPO launch has not yet been specified, but interested investors can “reserve stock” through BioLife4D’s website.